Configurable manual controller

ABSTRACT

A configurable manual controller ( 10, 140 ) for manipulating images or symbols on a display is adapted for construction with matable building elements ( 122 ) arranged by a user. The user forms the manual controller to exhibit a customized shape and ornamental appearance reflecting the user&#39;s game-inspired, ergonomic, or style preferences.

RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent ApplicationNo. 60/772,343, filed Feb. 10, 2006.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

© 2007 Aaron B. Sternberg. A portion of the disclosure of this patentdocument contains material that is subject to copyright protection. Thecopyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyoneof the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in thePatent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwisereserves all copyright rights whatsoever. 37 CFR § 1.71(d).

TECHNICAL FIELD

This disclosure relates to a manual controller for manipulating imagesor symbols on a visual display and, in particular, to a controller thatcan be constructed with user-arranged matable building elements toexhibit a customized shape and style depending on user game-inspired,ergonomic, or appearance preferences.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Manual controllers for manipulating images or symbols on a visualdisplay of a computer device include, for example, joysticks, game pads,steering wheels, guns, mice, remote devices for television, storedmulti-media display and recording machines, cellular telephones,portable video game systems, and portable multi-media devices. Oneprevalent type of manual controller comprises a control section having aplurality of buttons that the user presses to enter commands and handgrips that the user holds when the user operates the manual controller.Conventional manual controllers are distributed with a predeterminedappearance and ergonomic structure. Manual controllers are operated by avariety of users with different hand sizes. Moreover, each user hasdifferent ergonomic and style preferences.

SUMMARY OF DISCLOSURE

A configurable manual controller for manipulating images or symbols on adisplay is adapted for construction with matable building elementsarranged by a user. The user forms the manual controller to exhibit acustomized shape and ornamental appearance reflecting the user'sgame-inspired, ergonomic, or style preferences.

The configurable manual controller comprises an exoskeleton having aninterior region and a patterned surface portion. The interior region isconfigured to confine internal electrical components that areoperatively connected to and cooperate with control actuators to producesignals for manipulating images or symbols on the display. The controlactuators are positioned for tactile manipulation by a user to causeproduction of the signals. The patterned surface portion is configuredto support a set of building elements. The building elements in the setare configurable for mating to the patterned surface portion of theexoskeleton and to one another. This enables a user to customize thecontroller to an arbitrary shape and ornamental appearance, according tothe user's game-inspired, ergonomic, or style preferences.

In a first embodiment, the exoskeleton of a controller comprises a mainsection and a hand grip section, either or both of which includes atleast one patterned surface portion on which a user can build with thebuilding elements to create a controller of various shapes andappearances according to the user's preference. This can be accomplishedby one or both of attachment and add-on techniques. In a secondembodiment, the exoskeleton of a controller comprises a unitary main andhand grip section that includes at least one patterned surface portionon which a user can build with the building elements to create acustomized controller. The resulting arbitrary controller configurationdetermined by a user can be, for example as described below, a golf clubor a baseball bat.

Additional aspects and advantages will be apparent from the followingdetailed description of preferred embodiments, which proceeds withreference to the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an exploded view of a first preferred embodiment of aconfigurable manual controller.

FIG. 2 is an exploded view of the matable building elements assembled toform a hand grip that attaches to an exoskeleton surface of the manualcontroller of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a top plan view of a patterned surface portion of theexoskeleton of the manual controller of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is an isometric view of a second embodiment of a manualcontroller that includes a unitary main and hand grip section.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary view of the manual controller of FIG.4 shown with two building elements with different top side matingfeatures.

FIGS. 6A, 6B, 6C, and 6D are, respectively, plan, side elevation,isometric, and exploded views of a first example of a customizedcontroller built in the form of a golf club around the type of remotecontroller shown in FIG. 4.

FIGS. 7A, 7B, 7C, and 7D are, respectively, plan, side elevation,isometric, and partly assembled views of a second example of acustomized controller built in the form of a baseball bat around thetype of remote controller shown in FIG. 4.

FIGS. 8A, 8B, 8C, and 8D are, respectively, plan, side elevation,isometric, and partly exploded views of a third example of a customizedcontroller built with several layers of mated building elements aroundthe type of remote controller shown in FIG. 4 to form a baseball batwith an unfinished surface.

FIGS. 9A, 9B, and 9C are, respectively, side elevation, end, andexploded views of a fourth example of a customized controller built withtwo matable, styled half-section building elements that partly enclosethe type of remote controller of FIG. 4 to form a baseball bat.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 is an exploded view of a first preferred embodiment of aconfigurable manual controller 10 that is used with a computing device(not shown) for manipulating images or symbols on a display (not shown).Although it does not show a cable, this embodiment can be connected to acomputing device through a cable or a wireless communication link.Manual controller 10 includes an exoskeleton 12 formed of a main housing14 and a main casing 16 that conformably fits around the side surface ofmain housing 14. Main housing 14 fits inside of but is readily separablefrom main casing 16. Main housing 14 houses in its interior theelectrical components necessary for controlling symbols or images on adisplay associated with a computer device. Main casing 16 has apatterned surface portion 20 that in part covers hand grip mountingplates 22 (one shown) to which removable hand grips 30 and 32 can beattached as described below. Skilled persons will appreciate thatexoskeleton 12 can be alternatively made as a unitary structure having asurface on which patterned surface portion 20 is formed.

As shown in FIG. 1, exoskeleton 12 has an attachable left-hand grip 30and an attachable right-hand grip 32 for two-handed gripping by a user.A left-side control pad 34, including four pressable control members 36,and a left-side analog stick control 38 are positioned for access bydigits of the user's left hand; and a right-side control pad 44,including four control buttons 46, and a right-side analog stick control48 are positioned for access by digits of the user's right hand. Aselection button 64 and a start button 66 are positioned between handgrips 30 and 32. Skilled persons will appreciate that theabove-described number of control actuators, control actuator layoutpattern, and hand grip arrangement represent only one of numerouspossible control actuator and hand grip configurations. The internalelectrical components include the actual electronic circuits, controls,and corresponding switch elements for control pads 34 and 44 and buttons64 and 66.

Patterned surface portion 20, which in this embodiment covers theexterior side surface of main casing 16, includes a surface pattern inthe form of an array of mutually spaced-apart cylindrical matingfeatures or bosses 80. Each of hand grips 30 and 32 has a handle mount82 on which is formed an array of mutually spaced-apart cylindricalmating features or recesses 84. The diameter and depth of each recess 84and the spacing distances between adjacent ones of recesses 84 areestablished so that recesses 84 mate with corresponding bosses 80 andprovide a snug, releasable attachment of each of hand grips 30 and 32 tomain casing 16.

FIG. 2 shows the matable building elements that when assembled formleft-hand grip 30 shown in FIG. 1. Left hand-grip 30 is made up of fivebuilding elements, of which some have different matable features andsome have smooth finished surfaces that contribute to the ornamentalappearance and ergonomic quality of the hand grip.

Left-hand grip 30 includes a five-section body element 90 to which theremaining building elements attach. A mounting element 92 has threerecesses (not shown) that mate with three corresponding bosses 80 of amounting section 94 of body element 90 to form handle mount 82 (FIG. 1)having eight recesses 84. Handle mount 82 fits over and attaches to handgrip mounting plate 22 (FIG. 1), with eight recesses 84 and eightcorresponding bosses 80 in mating relationship. A medial side element 96has nine bosses 80 that mate with nine corresponding recesses of acenter section 98 of body element 90. A lateral side element 100 hasnine recesses (not shown) that mate with nine corresponding bosses 80 ofa distal section 102 of body element 90. Side elements 96 and 100contribute to the shape and appearance of the gripping surface ofleft-hand grip 30. An end piece 104 has two bosses 80 that mate with twocorresponding recesses (not shown) of a tip section 106 of body element90 to form a rounded terminal end of left-hand grip 30. The assembledleft-hand grip 30 is shown in FIG. 1 with its side elements 96 and 100removed. Right-hand grip 32 can be assembled in a corresponding mannerto that described above.

FIG. 3 shows a patterned surface portion 120 covering most of the topsurface of main housing 14 (FIG. 1), except for the actuators on controlpads 34 and 44. Patterned surface portion 120 includes a surface patternin the form of an array of mutually spaced-apart bosses 80 in the samearray pattern as that of patterned surface portion 20 (FIG. 1).

Patterned surface portion 120 is configured to receive matable buildingelements 122. Building elements 122 in this embodiment are preferablysmall molded plastic components that are stackable upon one another,like small bricks, to create a desired object. (Building elements 122intended to provide a finished surface typically do not have top surfacemating features that would enable stacking of another layer of buildingelements.) Building elements 122 can be of different colors. Suitablebuilding elements 122 include LEGO toy bricks, available from InterlegoAG, Zug, Switzerland.

A preferred building element 122 has on its bottom side recesses 84 thatare sized to mate with spatially corresponding bosses 80 so thatbuilding element 122 can be affixed to and thereby cover part ofpatterned surface portion 120. Skilled persons will appreciate that abuilding element 122 having multiple recesses 84 on its bottom side isconfigured so that adjacent recesses 84 are separated by the samedistance as that separating corresponding adjacent bosses 80 inpatterned surface portion 120. The spaced-apart bottom side recesses 84of building element 122 that are sized to mate with spatiallycorresponding bosses 80 of patterned surface portion 120 define a recessfeature pattern that is complementary to patterned surface portion 120.FIG. 3 shows a building element 122 a that has an open rectangularbottom side recess 124 that is sized to fit over and against lateralarcuate peripheral portions of two adjacent bosses 80 to mate with themin an operational manner. Building element 122 a defines a surfacefeature that is matable to bosses 80 in, but not is complementary to,patterned surface portion 120.

Either building element 122 or 122 a has on its top side the absence orpresence of a matable feature. FIG. 3 shows attached to main housing 14(FIG. 1) a building element 122 s having a smooth top surface that canbe of a color or that contributes to a finished decorative patternselected by a user. FIG. 3 also shows attached to main housing 14 andpositioned adjacent building element 122 s a building element 122 bhaving on its top side two bosses 80 to which another building element122 b could mate at its bottom surface.

For purposes of simplicity and uniformity, a user preferably constructsa manual controller with a set of stackable building elements in whichthe bottom side feature and the top side feature mates with andoperationally matches, respectively, the features in a patterned surfaceportion of the manual controller. Operationally match is defined to meanthat a top side feature is matable to the bottom side feature of thesame building element. This is the situation illustrated in FIG. 3 andFIGS. 8A, 8B, 8C, and 8D below. A user constructing a manual controllerwith building elements 122 stacked to form a specific shape could do so,however, by assembling a set of stackable building elements that areincluded in subsets. A first subset of building elements could be one inwhich the bottom side feature mates with, but the top side feature doesnot operationally match, the features of a patterned surface portion ofthe manual controller. A second subset of building elements could be onein which the bottom side feature mates with, and the top side featureoperationally matches, the top side feature of the building elements inthe first subset.

FIG. 4 is an isometric view of a second preferred embodiment of aconfigurable portable manual controller 140 that includes a unitary mainand hand grip section. Manual controller 140 is built around a remotecontroller in the form of a Wii™ remote controller, which is availablefrom Nintendo of America, Inc., Redmond, Wash., and is implemented withmotion sensors that move images on a display in response to usermovement of manual controller 140. Manual controller 140 includes anexoskeleton 142 that is a main housing that houses in its interior theelectrical components necessary for controlling symbols or images on adisplay associated with a computer device. As shown in FIG. 4,exoskeleton 142 has a control actuator 144 located between a control pad146 including four pressable control members 148 and a menu button 150and two control actuator buttons 152 and 154. A power button 156 islocated near the front end, two control actuator buttons 158 and 160 arelocated near the back end, and a joystick connector receptacle 162 islocated in the back surface of manual controller 140. Exoskeleton 142has a tapered front end bottom surface on which a user can rest hisfingers to grasp the controller and operate a trigger device (notshown).

Exoskeleton 142 has patterned surface portions 170 and 172 that togethercover most of the exterior of exoskeleton 142. Similar to patternedsurface portion 20 of main casing 16 of manual controller 10 shown inFIG. 1, patterned surface portion 170 covering the top surface of manualcontroller 140 includes a surface pattern in the form of an array ofmutually spaced-apart cylindrical mating features or bosses 80.Patterned surface portion 172 covering a side surface of manualcontroller 140 includes a surface pattern in the form of an array ofmutually spaced-apart square mating features 174. For purposes ofsimplicity, it is preferable to cover exoskeleton 142 with patternedsurface portions including arrays of the same mating features.

FIGS. 4 and 5 show two examples of building elements that are matable tomanual controller 140. A building element 176 shown positioned above(but not mated to) a building element 178 has top side cylindricalfeatures 80 in a surface pattern that is less densely packed thanfeatures 80 in the surface pattern of patterned surface portion 170.Building element 178 shown mated to bosses 80 of patterned surfaceportion 170 has top side square features 174 of patterned surfaceportion 172. Building element 178 may have bottom side features that arematable to either cylindrical features 80 or square features 174,depending on the surface of manual controller 140 on which a userintends to build.

FIGS. 6A, 6B, 6C, and 6D show a customized controller built in the formof a golf club 190 around a remote controller in the form of a Wii™remote controller. Golf club 190 includes an exoskeleton 192 that has asurface portion 170, which is described above with reference to FIG. 4.As best shown in FIG. 6D, golf club 190 includes five building elements,of which adjacent ones mate with each other and all of whichcollectively mate with exoskeleton 192. A mounting element 194 includestwo side sections 196 and 198 having recesses 84 that mate withcorresponding bosses 80 on respective sides 200 and 202 of exoskeleton192. Golf club shaft components 204, 206, 208, and 210 mate in seriesconnection to form an assembled golf club 190.

FIG. 7A, 7B, 7C, and 7D show a customized controller built in the formof a baseball bat 220 around a remote controller in the form of a Wii™remote controller. Baseball bat 220 includes an exoskeleton 222 that hasa surface portion 170, which is described above with reference to FIG.4. As best shown in FIG. 7D, baseball bat 220 includes five buildingelements (two of which are partly or completely removed to illustratemating bosses 80 of exoskeleton 222) mated to exoskeleton 222 to form abat handle 224 and eleven building elements (several of which partly cutaway to show mating bosses 80 on adjacent building elements) mated inseries connection to form a bat barrel 226. A building element 228 matesto the rear end of exoskeleton 222 to provide a bat heel, and a buildingelement 230 mates with the front end of exoskeleton 222 to interconnectit with bat barrel 226.

FIGS. 8A, 8B, 8C, and 8D show a customized controller built in the formof a baseball bat 240 around a remote controller in the form of a Wii™remote controller. Baseball bat 240 includes an exoskeleton 242 that hasa surface portion 170, which is described above with reference to FIG.4. As best shown in FIG. 8D, baseball bat 240 is formed of twomulti-layer stacks 244 and 246 of building elements positioned on andmated to either side of a bat barrel core section 248. Rectangularbuilding elements 250 and 252 included in respective multi-layer stacks244 and 246 have recesses 84 (not shown) that mate with bosses 80 on thesides of exoskeleton 242 at its tapered end to connect bat barrel coresection 248 to exoskeleton 240. Unlike baseball bat 220 of FIGS. 7A, 7B,7C, and 7D, baseball bat 240 has substantially large unfinished surfaceportions.

FIGS. 9A, 9B, and 9C show a customized controller built in the form of abaseball bat 260 around a remote controller in the form of a Wii™ remotecontroller. Baseball bat 260 includes an exoskeleton 262 that has asurface portion 170, which is described above with reference to FIG. 4.As best shown in FIG. 9C, baseball bat 260 is formed with two matablehalf-section building elements 264 and 266 that resemble longitudinalhalf-sections of a complete bat, including its handle and barrel. Theinterior surfaces of building elements 264 and 266 have arrays ofrecesses 84 that mate with bosses 80 on the side surfaces of exoskeleton262 to connect building elements 264 and 266 to exoskeleton 262. Theinterior surface of building element 264 has three mounts 268 for setsof bosses 80 that mate with corresponding recesses 84 on the interiorsurface (not shown) of building element 266 to connect building elements264 and 266 together. Baseball bat 260 presents with very few buildingelements a finished replica of a baseball bat.

It will be obvious to those having skill in the art that many changesmay be made to the details of the above-described embodiments withoutdeparting from the underlying principles of the invention. The scope ofthe present invention should, therefore, be determined only by thefollowing claims.

1. A configurable manual controller for manipulating images or symbols on a display and adapted for construction with user-arranged matable building elements to exhibit a customized shape and ornamental appearance, comprising: an exoskeleton having an interior region and a patterned surface portion; the interior region configured to confine internal electrical components, the internal electrical components operatively connected to control actuators to produce signals for manipulating images or symbols on the display; and the patterned surface portion configured to support a set of building elements that are configurable for mating to the patterned surface portion of the exoskeleton and for mating to one another, thereby to enable a user to establish an arbitrary shape and ornamental appearance of the controller.
 2. The configurable manual controller of claim 1, in which the set of building elements includes a subset of the building elements having first and second matable features that are matable to each other so that the building elements in the subset are configurable for mated joining to one another for assembly in stacked relationship.
 3. The configurable manual controller of claim 2, in which at least some of the building elements in the subset are of different sizes.
 4. The configurable manual controller of claim 1, in which the set of building elements includes a subset of the building elements having one or more surface features that are not matable to the building elements in the set.
 5. The configurable manual controller of claim 1, in which the patterned surface portion includes a surface feature, and in which the set of building elements includes a subset of building elements of which each has a surface feature that matches the surface feature of the patterned surface portion.
 6. The configurable manual controller of claim 1, in which the exoskeleton comprises multiple pieces, one of which has the patterned surface portion.
 7. The configurable manual controller of claim 1, in which the exoskeleton is in a unitary structural form.
 8. The configurable manual controller of claim 1, in which the patterned surface portion constitutes a first patterned portion, and further comprising the exoskeleton having a second patterned portion. 